CONNECTICUT. 



225 



the resources of these banks in 1877 is set 

 down at $80,273,238. The withdrawal of de- 

 posits exceeding $3,000. during the last-named 

 year amounted to $2,677,237. The number 

 of depositors which, in 1876, was 203,514, 

 showing a decrease of 4,516 as compared with 

 their number in 1875 has increased in 1877 

 by more than one thousand. 



A law was passed by the Legislature of 1877, 

 imposing on the savings-banks' deposits a tax 

 of five-eighths of one per cent. ; restricting the 

 rate of interest on their loans to six per cent, 

 per annum; and requiring of them a reserve 

 of one-fourth of one per cent, every six months, 

 for surplus. 



The fire-insurance companies of Connecticut 

 were, in 1876, very prosperous. Three among 

 the Hartford companies the Connecticut, the 

 Orient, and the Phcenix increased their capi- 

 tal in that year by above one million dollars ; 

 its aggregate amount at the beginning of March, 



1877, having been $8,251,000 against $7,001,- 

 000 in the previous year. The proportion of 

 their losses and expenses to income last year 

 was less than 76 per cent., against 77 per 

 cent, in the preceding. The amount of prop- 

 erty insured in the Connecticut stock fire 

 companies was $633,458,645. The premium 

 paid to these companies has been slightly low- 

 ered from 1.42 to 1.36. The losses also have 

 decreased. 



The General Assembly of 1877 enacted a 

 law " To provide for the Improvement of the 

 Statutes relating to Insurance Companies." It 

 authorizes the Governor, by and with the ad- 

 vice and consent of the Senate, " to appoint 

 . three persons as commissioners, who shall in- 

 quire into the practical workings and effects 

 of all statutes of the State now in force, relat- 

 ing to the organization, conduct, supervision, 

 and liquidation of insurance companies ; and 

 whether any, and, if any, what changes in 



EAST AMD WEST DIVINITY COLLEGES AND MARQUAND CHAPEL (TALE COLLEGE). 



such legislation are necessary and proper to be 

 made for the protection of the public, and for 

 the security and proper conduct of the com- 

 panies." It specifies the manner in which the 

 intended work is to be performed by the com- 

 missioners, who are to submit a printed re- 

 port of their doings to the Legislature " at the 

 opening of its regular session in the year 1878." 



The banks of discount and trust companies 

 in the State continue in the same condition, 

 and are conducted by persons of wealth and 

 experience. Such of these corporations as con- 

 fined their operations to banking business only, 

 have not made their usual dividends. 



Concerning the education of youth, there 

 are in Connecticut 1,629 public schools, and 

 VOL. xvn. 15 A 



the yearly average of school sessions is 177.52 

 days. Out of 133,099 enumerated children be- 

 tween 4 and 16 years of age, 119,208 attended 

 the public schools; other than public schools, 

 10,180: the percentage of children in schools 

 of all kinds being reckoned at 94.38. Tho 

 total of school revenue from the school fund, 

 State, town, and district taxes, and other 

 sources for the last year, was $1,505,718.67. 

 The total of school expenditures for the same 

 year was $1,509,722.61. 



The State Normal School is proving very 

 beneficial, as it renders great services in the 

 interest of education. About 40 efficient 

 teachers, trained in that institution, are annu- 

 ally going out of it to the public schools. 



